"The Danger of a Single Story" and "The Color of Fear"
In the video "The Danger of a Single Story," Chimamanda Adiche discusses her life experiences regarding the limitations that the "single story" has on people's lives. Adiche states, "the single story creates stereotypes... they make one story become the only story." This conveys that when people hear one particular story about a person of a different culture, they automatically generalize and assume that this story is true for all people of that culture. I agree with Adiche's speech because people make assumptions instantly, especially when they hear a negative or frightening story which in turn generates stereotypes. Everyone is guilty of stereotyping and falling into the trap of the single story. Adiche illustrates this by telling her assumptions about the house boy she had in Nigeria and her thought about Mexicans on her trip to Mexico. I enjoyed her final quote, which stated, "when we reject the single story... we regain a kind of paradise," because if everyone listens to the stories told by both sides of the argument, then maybe people would get along better and not generalize as much.
In the video "The Color of Fear," they started off the video going around the room and introducing themselves. Some men introduced themselves as American and others said Chinese-American, African-American, etc. Later David questions why people say so and so-American because we live in America. He wonders why people feel the need to add the extra identity. I understand what he is trying to say because they were born and raised here but the appeal of this country are the many different ethnicities and cultures. I do not believe that people should throw away there cultural identities in order to live in America. I also think that a woman's point of view would have made the arguments more interesting because women would offer a different perspective on the issues. Women have had to overcome struggles and still are today.
Did watching either of these two videos force you to think of any part of your own experiences as similar? Different? How did watching the videos call out your own ideas of what multiculturalism is/can be/will be?
ReplyDeleteYou have a good point about the perspective of a woman being different and it would have given an even more diverse pool of experiences, but I am not sure there would have been the honest exchange of opinions and beliefs if it was a mixed gender grouping.
ReplyDeleteI found it really interesting when you said how people tend to generalize that a 'culture' is one way from only one experience they might have. I know that in the past I might have done that but am happy to say that the more encounters I have and the older I get-I became more aware of it and people shouldn't generalize a culture from only a few encounters... interesting point and thanks for bring it up!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that people should not throw away their cultural identities to live in America, but I do think that it can at times be difficult to maintain your cultural identity in America. If you consider every large ethnic group that has immigrated to America voluntarily they were commonly viewed at the beginning as weird outsiders. Even looking at people who immigrated to New York, for example Irish, Italian, and Eastern Europeans, with each new wave of immigrants they had to let go of some of their cultural traditions to be considered "American". This is still occurring for the newer immigrants and as ideal as it would be to not change, I think the way society is now it will stay that way.
ReplyDeleteI also think the closing statement was a powerful one. Our creation of generalizations and stereotypes forms a sense of conflict. There is a sort of fear that comes with this conflict because people usually do not interact with those they view in a negative manner. This causes factions and isolated groups with in society. It is only with the acceptance of many stories that we can begin to remove these factions and create a paradise.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you considered the question of gender in the representations provided in "the Color of Fear." Why did the director specifically use a collection of (presumably) straight males as his case study? I think that this is an important question to focus on.
ReplyDeleteIs it simply because he wanted to focus solely on the race relations, uncomplicated by other questions of social location? If so, what does that say about the separability of race and gender and race and sexuality? My thoughts are that this could potentially be dangerous as it reestablishes patterns of racial politics wherein the voices of intra-minority groups, such as women, the impoverished and queerfolk are always obfuscated.